Two days later, The road to Nuwait, off of the fork town, Carnegie.
Near the White Woods.
The group is riding on two horses, dressed and ready for a fight. Gavric, the most notable, as he is dressed in dark, iron-plated armor, with a greatsword hanging over his back, walking beside the horse ridden by Hector and Lyse in front, while Arryn rides behind them to cover their bases, and Elyra, on foot, scouts the road ahead from the surrounding trees.
She is about five hundred meters from the rest of the group, wearing a light blue shirt under a leather breastplate, with dark-blue bottoms and brown boots. She takes up her wristband and speaks into it.
"We're here. The White Woods." She says.
Lyse responds. "Steady yourself, Ely. We've got a girl to find."
"Yes, ma'am."
Hector turns to Lyse. "Hope you've got your healing potions ready. It's nearly nightfall."
"Why the fear, lads?" Gavric says cheerfully. "It may be a place of dread, but that's surely not an issue for us. We're the Band of Roses."
"Yeah, and you're Gavric Irons, the only one of us who looks more than likely to survive this out of any of us." Lyse responds. She turns to Arryn in the back.
"Not many words from you today, fearless leader. Anything the matter, Ryn-love?"
"It's already past six. Naturally, the creatures would be rampant by now." He says, looking around.
"Then, we thank our stars they aren't yet, and we keep it moving, like we always do. This is not an easy job to keep at, you know?" She replies.
They keep moving at the same pace for about thirty minutes, and then, darkness falls as the night arrives. Arryn encourages them to walk the rest of the distance on foot, and keep the horses a safe distance away. They are inside of the woods, and so their moves need to be careful and calculated.
"Hector..." Arryn starts. "Search for any disturbances in the aura of this place. Take as long as you need, but we need a complete layout of the woods."
"That's quite the distance, but I should be able to handle it." Hector replies and closes his eyes. A blue aura starts to glow around him and he sends out divergent pulses of magic throughout the woods. Arryn and Gavric stand in front of him.
"Lyse, stand by." Arryn continues and touches his wristband. "Ely, return to us, now."
Lyse takes her position a few paces from the group huddled together. Seconds later, Elyra returns to Arryn's side and takes her position up in a tree.
"Anything, Hector?" Gavric says, gripping his sword with both hands.
"We've got a battle royale on our hands here. Twenty beasts approaching from all directions."
"Brace yourselves." Arryn says, gripping a longsword, channeling his magic through it.
Howls of beast are heard throughout the forest. In a matter of moments, Beasts of chimeric appearance swarm the encampment.
In a frenzy, Lyse releases a large bolt of fire in the direction of the beasts coming at her. Instantly set ablaze, the beasts squirm and squeal as the burn to a crisp. Elyra immediately makes her way up the nearest tree and fires off three arrows at the beasts in her direction, impaling one and encasing the other two targets in ice.
The middle flank is flooded by the remnants. Left to Hector, Gavric and Arryn, the beasts swarm in their direction. The boys, however, are not to be outdone. Gav takes out two beasts in one swing of his greatsword. Hector leaps in the air and throws small magical bolts in the eyes of the beasts, before landing and quickly taking off their heads in one sweeping move with his two daggers.
Arryn, left to the most beasts to deal with, quickly evades their attacks. He dices two beasts in quick succession, and while trying to decapitate the next, his sword gets trapped in the head of the beast. The other beast, twice as big, takes a swing at him as he tries to get his sword out of the head. He notices just on time, and jumps over the arm of the beast, as it destroys the head of the previous one. He conjures up a beam of light and blows a hole through the two beasts. Another one jumps him but is quickly frozen to the bone by one of Elyra's arrows.
The group quickly dispatches the wave of monsters. Hector laughs at the situation. "Man...I sure thought there'd be another wave right after this, but I guess not."
"Yes...I thought so too. That's odd." Arryn says. "I've not been here a lot, but from the stories of travelers and nearby residents, This place is meant to be crawling with them."
"Will you ever stop worrying, Ryn?" Lyse complains. "We've gotten past this hurdle, we just need to find the kidnappers now."
"Right, Right. Let's keep it moving." Arryn retorts.
"Where are we going exactly?" Elyra asks.
"Hector should be able to tell us." Arryn turns to him.
"There should be a tunnel about six hundred meters north of us. It's a pretty deep one, so the aura wasn't exactly strong, but I definitely felt humans down there." Hector explains.
"Right. Let's go." Gavric says.